John 4:27

SOWING AND REAPING.

The hearty reception given by the Samaritans to the Jewish teacher shows that their hearts were much more open to the reception of divine truths than the conceited and bigoted Jews. It seems strange, with such readiness to receive him on their part, that we do not hear more of our Lord's intercourse with the Samaritans. His heart, full of the love of man, not of. single race, seemed bursting to reach out and embrace all the lost children of Adam. He is the "Son of Man," not of David or Abraham; he "came to save the world," not the Jewish race alone; he is "the Lamb slain for the sins of the world." Yet, when he gives his apostles their first commission, he forbids them to go to the Samaritans and Gentiles. Why is this? Because he was "born of woman, made under the law." The law of Moses was yet in force. He kept it in all points blamelessly. It was still the law of God, but when the "handwriting of ordinances was nailed to the cross," then the "middle wall of partition was broken down," the "Old Covenant was taken away to give place to the new," and then, under the New Covenant,. covenant that embraced mankind instead of the children of Abraham, the Lord directed his disciples to preach the gospel "in Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."

27. Upon this came his disciples and marvelled that he talked with the woman.

His disciples had left him alone at the well, while they went to the village of Sychar to buy food. As they return they see him in the clear air of that country and on the elevated site of the well on the mountain side, engaged in conversation with. woman. They probably approached near before the conversation ended, and paused and wondered that he would talk with. woman, and especially with. Samaritan woman. It was considered by the Jews indecorous to talk with. woman in public, and the Rabbis held that to talk with such an inferior creature was beneath the dignity of. doctor of the law. Their surprise well illustrates the state in which woman was held before Christ lifted her to the side of man as his equal and companion. Among the Greeks, Socrates, their best and wisest teacher, thanked the gods daily, that he was born neither. slave nor. woman; the Roman law gave the husband absolute authority over the wife, even to put her to death; among the Jews the wife could be divorced "for any cause," their most renowned doctor, Hillel, insisting that for her to burn the bread in baking was. sufficient reason. It is in the New Testament, first, that woman stands forth as the minister of Christ and the helper in the gospel. Christ's disciples had not yet been emancipated from their false teachings, and hence they were filled with surprise at the condescension of the Master. Yet such was their awe that none interrupted, or asked. reason for his departure from all that they had ever known. They soon learned better.